Memento
by heath.96
Summary: When Sara is seriously injured at a crime scene, how will the team react? More importantly, will this be enough to get Grissom to come home? Set post FMN with appearances from a few old friends along the way. First CSI story, please R&R! :)
1. Chapter 1

**Momento - Chapter One**

Sara raked her hand through her hair and she arrived at the crime scene. She glanced in the mirror and took a deep breath, slipping her 'normal' mask on. She would make the guys believe she was okay, even though inside she was screaming for help. _Not their problem_, she chastised. Her father had taught her to deal with things herself; that there was no point going to other people because they would always end up getting hurt. So, as she made her way over to the beautiful home out in the middle of nowhere, she locked up all of her feelings inside a smile.

"Hey, Sar," Nick called, from the top of the stairs, "You're up here with me."

"Okay," She smiled; trying to ignore the once beautiful hallway that now was covered in blood as she made her way up the expensive marble staircase.

"What happened here?" She asked as she looked around the stunning library where Nick had been busy dusting for fingerprints.

"Family of nine. Two parents, grandma and six kids ranging from thirteen down to the newborn baby. All the bodies have been taken already. Kids were all in bed when it happened. Looks like a professional hit; little evidence has been left behind. The killers obviously wore gloves."

"Do we know why they were targeted?"

"No reason sticks out so far. Brass has spoken to the neighbours. No one has given any reason as to why anyone would harm this family. Parents are clean. The mother was a lawyer and the father was a cop." Nick replied, putting his dusting equipment away and picking up the three evidence bags he'd used for some random fibres that he was hoping would be helpful.

Sara snapped a photo of a curious stain, but before she could get a swab from her kit, the two CSIs heard a series of loud bangs and thuds.

Gunshots.

Their heads turned towards the door, the pair drawing their guns.

It was deadly silent.

Nick counted to three on his fingers before the pair ventured out into the soundless hallway.

Before Nick could shout "Freeze!" at the three assailants a gunfight broke out.

Nick dove behind the wall.

He reached for her arm as she was shot in the stomach.

He watched, as her body toppled, almost in slow motion, down the stairs.

A pool of blood surrounded her as her vision blurred.

Sara could hear her name being shouted.

And then her world went black.

* * *

**A/N Hey! Thank you for reading! This is my first post of CSI on FFN, so please be nice and drop me a review? O:) I'll love you forever, and the more reviews I get, the sooner I am likely to update ;) **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Russell and Finn were busy in the back room when they heard the commotion in the hallway. Guns in their hands, they made their way quickly and quietly through the corridor and stood transfixed as they watched Sara tumble down the marble stairs.

The three assailants were taken down, but by whom no one would remember, they simply wanted to get to Sara.

Her skin was pale, her face ghostly white; a stark contrast to the crimson blood pooling by her head and soaking her shirt.

Russell radioed for back-up whilst Finn phoned for an ambulance. Her voice cracked, losing her cool composure for a moment, as she relayed the details of the previous events, her eyes never leaving her teammate and friend's broken body.

"It's OK, Sara. You're going to be OK." Nick soothed as he stroked her hair with one hand, a tear making a track down his face as he put more pressure on her stomach wound emitting a small moan from his colleague.

Brass was one of the first to arrive at the house. The fire in his eyes told the police officer, who should have been standing guard outside with his fallen comrade, that he was taking no excuses today. He began barking orders to the detectives and then made his way inside to check on the now organised chaos inside.

There were two medics working on Sara; one inserting an IV and the other putting layers of dressing on the gunshot wound. Nick had refused to move from his position by Sara's side and had a firm hold on her hand. Russell and Finn were hovering close by giving statements to the officers whilst keeping one eye on Sara.

The medics worked quickly to get Sara strapped onto a board and into the back of the ambulance. Russell gave Nick the approving nod to go in the vehicle with her, with the promise that they would be right behind in the Denali and would tell the others to meet them at the hospital.

The ambulance ride was quiet bar the occasional update from the paramedic driving to control to give them an ETA and Nick's soft muttering to Sara as he tried to keep his composure.

They arrived quickly at Desert Palm and Sara was rushed into the ER. Nick moved to follow her into the room, but a hand on his arm made him stop. He turned to see Greg, who promptly moved them out of the way of the doctors and nurses trying to work. He tried to guide Nick towards the chairs in the waiting room, but Nick pulled his arm out of Greg's grasp.

"Dude, get off me." He snapped.

"Nick, there's nothing we can do right now but wait. You know that. So come sit down. Please." Greg implored, pointing to the uncomfortable white plastic chair next to him.

Nick did as asked, adversely, just as Finn and DB came in, quickly followed by Morgan whose face was so white it rivalled Sara's.

Sensing the tension resounding off Nick, DB broke the silence by asking Greg if he'd heard anything about Sara's condition.

Before Greg could reply, a doctor walked through the doors, a solemn expression on his face as he asked for the family of Sara Sidle.

* * *

**A/N** Thank you all so much for the reviews! I've been nervous about posting, but thanks to you and the wonderful Lauren, I'm happy with what I've got so far! I'm back to school tomorrow (boo!) but I've got the next chapter written, so maybe if you give me lots of nice reviews I'll post tomorrow... ;)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

A doctor walked through the doors, a solemn expression on his face as he asked for the family of Sara Sidle.

They rose as a group and moved to greet the doctor.

"You're all relatives of Sara Sidle?" the doctor asked, incredulously, as he stared at the CSIs.

Nick spoke on behalf of the group; "No, we work with her. Her husband is- wait has anyone called Grissom?"

At the shake of their heads, Greg moved away from the group to attempt to contact his former boss.

His hand shook as he dialled the all too familiar number, one he knew by heart, but that he had never wished to have to call under these circumstances. Waiting as the phone rang, he dragged his fingers through his messy hair. He spoke quickly and quietly to his former boss who promised to be there as soon as possible.

Moving back over to the group, Greg stuffed his phone into his pocket and laid a reassuring hand on Morgan's back as she stood like a statue listening intently to Sara's doctor as he gave them an update on her status.

"She's stable," he began, "Which right now is a very positive thing. We're going to operate shortly to remove the bullet and repair any internal damage. Right now the main concern is the head injury Ms Sidle sustained from the fall. We've medically induced a coma to prevent further damage and to keep her stabilized until we can open her up and she is being taken down in a moment for a head CT to establish if there's any brain damage. Once I know more, I'll come and let you know."

"Thank you, doctor." Russell responded, shaking Dr. Matthews hand on behalf of the stunned group of CSIs.

"Is she going to be OK? I mean, what are the odds?" Morgan asked, speaking so quietly that had the room not already been deadly silent she would not have been heard.

"I am hopeful that we will be able to remove the bullet and repair the damage to her abdominal area. As for the damage to her brain... I cannot be certain until the CT scan has been performed, but I can see that Ms. Sidle is a fighter, and we have our best neurologists standing by in case surgery is required."

"Can we see her before the surgery?" Finn asked.

"I can give you two minutes with her, but then we need to get her upstairs." The doctor replied, moving towards the door with the group close behind.

The CSIs came to an abrupt stop upon arriving at Sara's room. Hesitantly, Greg opened the door and cautiously made his way to Sara's side. Her skin was covered in bruises from the fall and the little flesh unaffected was ghostly pale. Bar the cuts and scratches and stark white bandages, she looked almost angelic. He noted the number of tubes snaking around her battered skin, one coming from her nose, another inserted into her mouth breathing for her and various smaller tubes coming from her arm. The words of the doctor floated around his head. C_omatose. Surgery. Head Injury. Brain Damage. Hopeful. Uncertain. _

Carefully, as though holding a glass object, he lifted her right hand and wrapped his warm fingers around her freezing cold ones, trying to send her a message that he was there, in what felt like a pitiful gesture. Nick perched on the other side of Sara, brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face and muttering soothing words of comfort; more for himself than for his wounded friend.

The rest of the group stood silently tablo at the foot of the bed, not wanting to interrupt this rather beautiful scene of their colleagues with their surrogate sister.

Dr. Matthews, true to his word, gave them a few moments of privacy before doctors and nurses alike began rushing around the bedside, checking stats and ushering the gang out of the door.

With one last look at their broken friend, the group moved back towards the relative's room and waited.

* * *

Gil Grissom woke with a start. Disorientated, he looked for the source of the disturbance to his slumber. The guilty party was his cell phone, the caller ID reading 'Greg Sanders'.

A thousand dreadful thoughts filled his mind, the majority about his beloved Sara, each worse than the last, as he reached out a hand to grab the vibrating object.

"Grissom." He hesitantly greeted.

"Uh, hey, boss, it's Greg. I, uh, need to tell you something - something important."

Grissom didn't miss a beat before asking, with a concern filled voice, "Is Sara OK?"

Something about Greg's tone was off. His usual calm, slightly nervous tone was gone and in its place was an apprehensive, timid, almost scared pitch.

"There's been an accident... Sara's hurt... it's pretty bad; you need to get back here."Greg gushed, ending with a shaky breath as he waited, trying to guess his pretty unpredictable ex-boss' tone.

Greg needn't have worried about an outburst, for his former mentor simply squeaked out a meagre "I'll be on the next flight out" and hung up.

Grissom wasted no time in assembling a few of his belongings; his passport, his phone and a book that he had bought as a gift for Sara on a whim, all of which flew into a small bag and within twelve minutes of the phone call he had booked a seat on the next available flight to Vegas and was sat in his Jeep speedily making his way down the winding roads towards the city.

He arrived at the airport in a daze. If not for the autopilot ingrained into his brain, he would not have been able to make his way through the security checks and onto the small passenger plane that would take him to his wife- no, ex-wife...

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, so I have some major apologising to do! Firstly, I have had a whole block of this ready to post for so long, but life got in the way! Exams and other school commitments took up most of my time and then I was really ill, so I didn't have much time to post. Anyway, I'm back at school tomorrow, sitting my 10th exam (only 7 more after that, woo!) so I'm going to treat you to two, maybe even three chapters ;) Enjoy and please review! It makes me so happy to read them and I really appreciate you taking a few moments out of your day to drop me a line :)


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